Guys, I know this is meant to be a page for more technical discussions than this, but an issue which concerns all of us deeply has been bothering me for a while, and this seemed like as good a forum to raise it in as any. Ethics is something most of us are too eager to brush off as not our problem. I hope that for once we can rise above that. Over the last few months I have become increasingly aware of the amount of paper we use as a community. In any given extension I will use five to ten sheets - for summs even more. Even in opening half I seem to cover three at minimum. I certainly wouldnt want to generalise from my own experiences - I do after all attend a privileged university which is capable of providing me with the stationary of my choice, and others may be more ecologically minded than I am - but it seems like something for all of us to dwell on. Forests are dying globally while we sit in our cocoons of complacency and do nothing. We are a community that prides itself on the free and frank exchange of ideas - surely this is an area in which we can have some kind of productive discussion. Some questions to get the ball rolling. What is the optimal amount of paper to use in a given speech? Is it worth cutting back, if only from a point of view of enlightened self interest? Are there more eco-friendly ways of retaining ideas throughout a speech? I am open to the US practice of small portable whiteboards, though obviously this is not for every comer and I dont mean to impose on anyone. What are peoples experiences with laptops? They are increasingly seen in judge discussions. Would people be happy to extend the same principle to speakers? Would their use of electrical power counterbalance any marginal gains in tree preservation? Is this be a matter where NUDC guidelines would be appropriate? Again I wouldnt want to generalise about the experiences of debaters on other circuits, but Id be happy to support any form of WUDC Council motion if it would help get some momentum behind this thing. As ever, discussion appreciated in the comment section. Happy to meet with anyone with concerns to discuss this personally - I will be at most IVs in the run up to WUDC and am obviously interested in all your opinions. Cheers for reading - I really think this is something worth caring about. George
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:53:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015